Short Story
A Girl
I
work in a Govt. Department and generally travel to office on my bike or by car.
It was raining profusely overnight and was not possible for me to travel by
bike and my car was also at service station, so I was left with only
option of going office through public
transport i.e. Bus. Carrying an umbrella in one hand and Tiffin in other, I was
thinking of my past when I use to travel by Public transport during my college
days, my struggling days as I had no other means of transport.
Travelling
after in Bus after so many years, I felt that not many things have changed.
Drivers still stop their vehicles here and there without proper bus stop, use
to overload their vehicles and use other illegal means etc. Anyways, till the
closing of office , rain had stopped and for going back home the bus I had
boarded was full to its capacity except one seat where one middle-aged person
was sitting. I adjusted myself there and taken that seat beside that man. Till
the next stop the bus was so crowded that even day light couldn’t pass through.
Then only I saw a confident young modern girl in western attire standing near
my seat with pile of books in her hands and a bag on her shoulder. As a
courtesy call, I offered my seat to her and after my request she while thanking
me with a smile on her face for this generosity sat over there.
Due
to very heavy rush in the Bus I was not able to see outside and then only when I
was looking at her books, I noticed that the middle-aged man was touching her
with his elbow and she in order to save herself and avoid the situation
separated herself from him or may be she was thinking that it was accidental
due to heavy rush in the bus. But the man shamelessly again came closer to her
and again started to molest her and then only she raised an alarm that he is
trying to misbehaving with her.
The
said middle-aged man smartly in order to save himself from the public wrath
said: “You are mistaken young lady, you are like my daughter.” Passengers
sitting in the bus have different opinions over the incident. Some were saying;
“How mean or cheap this girls is, who is trying to tarnish the image of a
respectable person by accusing him of molesting her” and some were talking
about her western attire that such girls attract innocent male with such
clothes and then create scenes.
Then
only I thought that I am living in a country where our Ministers are issuing
advisories to female foreign tourists for avoiding short clothes and skirts
during evenings then such state of mind of the common masses towards female
folks is acceptable.
After
coming out of my thoughts I realized that the girl is feeling alone and then
only I intervened in the matter and asked; “I had seen him teasing her.” On
hearing the man had heating exchange of words with me and which ended in a
scuffle and me and the girl didn’t gave any respect to his middle-age and gave
him a thrash. Later, we were joined by several other co-passengers and he asked
the driver to hand him over to the Police. On his repeated requests only, the
girl forgiven him.
During
my Bus visit I realized that how our mothers, sisters, friends, co-worker girls
or ladies feel humiliated everyday because eve-teasing and sexual abuse is
common in our society but only few of them are reported to the authorities due
to many other social obligations. We are living in a society where on one hand
female is given the status of goddess and on the other hand they are looked as
a commodity.
-
Swarn
Deep
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